Desk Tracker Guide
Contents:
I.
Purpose and Uses
II.
Logging In
III.
Recording questions
IV.
Recording Gate Count and Head Count
V.
Recording Stats Late
VI.
Field Descriptions
VII.
Reports
I. Purpose and Uses:
1. Track all questions asked at service desks
2. Track Gate Counts and Head Counts for Library
II. Logging In
1. Go to http://client.desktracker.com/?uact=login
2. Account Number: 875138
3. Username: Enter your unit’s username
4. Password: Enter the password for this username
5. Select your unit for branch
6. Select the appropriate desk
7. Click Continue. You are now logged in.
III. Recording Reference Questions
1. Click on the Activity tab
2. Fill in all the fields that apply (see Field explanations at end of this document). The core fields
are:
a. Patron Type
b. Your Status
c. Mode of communication and length (e.g. In Person, 5-15 minutes)
d. Question Type
e. READ Scale
f.
Government Information Used (Yes/No)
g. Subject
h. World Region
i.
Description
j.
Referred to Specialist
k. Illinois Specific Information
3. Example – you (a GA) answer an in person question from an Undergraduate Student about
locating the full text of a journal article they have found a citation for. It takes you 7 minutes to
track this down and get a download for the patron, at which point they indicate they are
satisfied. You would record the question as follows:
a. Patron Type – Undergraduate Student
b. Your Status – Graduate Student
c. Choose In Person: 5-15 minutes
d. Question Type: Find Specific Library Materials
e. Read Scale: 3
f.
Description: Locate full text of article from EBSCO Academic Search Premier database.
g. Other fields – blank.
IV. Recording Gate and Head Counts
1. Click on the Gate Count tab
2. Enter all applicable numbers and click Submit
V. Recording Stats Late
If you get delayed in entering a stat (question or gate count/etc.), you can manually change the recorded
date/time on the form before submitting the stat
1. Click the Custom Timestamp link in the upper right
2. Enter in the time when the stat occurred (if different from right now)
3. Enter Gate Count/Head Count as normal (Section III above)
4. Example: You meant to enter the 11:00am gate count at 11, but it is now 12:30pm.
a. Go to the Gate Count Tab
b. Click Custom Timestamp and change the Date and Time to 11:00am
5. Click the Submit button
VI. Field Descriptions
Your Status
How to fill out the Your Status field in Desk Tracker.
Student Assistant
This category includes undergraduate hourly staff who work in the library.
Graduate Assistant
This category includes both graduate hourly and tuition-waiver generating assistantships.
Generally, people who select this option will be currently enrolled in the Graduate School of
Library and Information Science.
Library Staff
This category includes library technicians and paraprofessionals. Generally, people who select
this option will not have a graduate degree in library science (although some may) and, while
they may be employed full-time by the library, are not library faculty.
Library Faculty
This category includes visiting, tenure-track, and tenured faculty at the University Library.
Generally people who select this option will have a graduate degree in library science and title
including the word "librarian."
Other
This category includes practicum students and others not officially affiliated with a unit or
reference desk.
Patron Type
How to select the type of patron in Desk Tracker.
General Guidelines
Please fill out the "Patron Type" field in Desk Tracker, even if you are uncertain of the patron's
relationship with the University of Illinois. Feel free, during a lull in conversation, to ask the user
what their relation to the University is. Certain questions, such as borrowing period lengths,
necessitate knowing the Patron Type in order to be answered accurately anyways. If you have
no direct evidence of the patron's affiliation with the University, you may guess according to
their appearance and the nature of their question; you do not need to be absolutely positive of
the accuracy of your chosen Patron Type.
Undergraduate Student
Use this category for anyone enrolled in an Undergraduate program at the University of Illinois,
including the Chicago and Springfield campuses. Often Undergraduates will ask questions
related to the basics of scholarly practice, such as the meaning of secondary versus primary
sources, or which databases in a certain field should be used.
Examples:
•
Someone asking how to find the course reserves for an Undergraduate course.
Someone who considers "the library" to mean the Undergraduate Library and not the Main
Library.
•
Graduate Student
Use this category for anyone enrolled in a graduate-level program at the University of Illinois,
including the Chicago and Springfield campuses. Individuals who are taking a graduate-level
class, but not formally enrolled in a program, fall under the Graduate Student category whether
or not their question is pertinent to the course they are taking. Graduate students will usually
ask more sophisticated questions and will already have some understanding of research
techniques and academic databases.
Examples:
•
A teaching assistant inquiring as to how they might put articles on E-reserve.
•
Anyone asking about a graduate-level course or its related materials, even if they could
technically be an Undergraduate (Graduate Student is still a reasonable guess).
•
Someone who mentions their thesis or assistantship.
Faculty/Staff
Use this category for anyone employed by the University of Illinois who is not a graduate
student, such as a professor emeritus, adjunct professor, guest lecturer, security guard, or
maintenance worker. Questions about library policies are common from this group of people,
and professors sometimes have copyright questions. Most professors will already be familiar
with the research resources in their field, but may need helping accessing databases or acquiring
items through inter-library loan.
Examples:
•
Someone working on a book and looking for an item that "we" don't hold (the "we" shows
that they work for the University).
•
Someone inquiring as to how long library staff can check out monographs.
Visiting Scholar
This category is outdated and should not be used; chances are if you find yourself wanting to
use the Visiting Scholar category, you should use Faculty/Staff instead. This option may not be
present in some "Patron Type" forms.
Alumni
Use this category for patrons who have graduated from the University of Illinois, including the
Chicago and Springfield campuses. Alumni may have graduated with a bachelor's or more
advanced degree. Any questions about Alumni access to library resources are liable to fall under
this category.
Examples:
•
Someone with an @illinoisalumni.org email address.
•
Someone inquiring about a U of I classmate from twenty years ago.
Outside UIUC/Non-Affiliate
Use this category for anyone outside of Champaign County who is not employed by or attending
the University of Illinois, nor has graduated from it. Also use this category for visiting students
who have not yet decided to attend the University and/or their relatives if they live outside the
county. A user who lives outside Champaign County but is taking a class at the University of
Illinois should be classified as a Graduate Student and not in this category. In Reference,
Research, and Government Information Services, many of the email questions come from
Outside UIUC/Non-Affiliate patrons.
Examples:
•
Someone from the United Kingdom inquiring about the marginalia of a rare book in our
holdings.
•
A prospective student asking about the library's history and how best to get around campus.
•
Someone who mentions they are "in town for a conference" and needs directions.
Academic Outreach Student
This category is used for students (usually off-campus) enrolled in specific UIUC Undergraduate
or Graduate courses. The patron may only indicate that they are a Grad or Undergrad; typically
this category is only used when a patron is requesting an interlibrary loan for an item and
indicates they are out of state.
Local Community Member
Use this category for any resident of Champaign County who is unaffiliated with the University
of Illinois; in other words, the patron is not employed by or attending the University, nor are
they an alumnus.
Examples:
•
Someone who asks if a resident of Urbana can check out books from the University library.
•
A non-student looking for tax forms or other state of Illinois documents.
Other
Use this category for anyone who indicates a clear affiliation not covered above. If the affiliation
is not clear, use Unknown instead.
Unknown
Use this category if you are unable to determine the patron type and cannot formulate a guess
according to hints present in the patron's appearance and question, or if the patron does not
seem to easily fit in any of the classifications above.
Example:
•
Someone on chat asks about difficulty accessing a database online, and leaves before
indicating their affiliation.
In Person/IM-Chat/Email/Phone/SMS-Text Message
General Guidelines
Each of these duration fields is a drop-down with a list of durations underneath. You should only select
one of these for each question, based on the length of the question and how it is asked. A single
duration option should be chosen for every question answered, regardless of type.
Examples:
•
Patron at in person desk asks a quick question about printers – Choose “In Person < 5 minutes”
for duration, and “Technical Issues (printers, scanners, etc.) from Question Type
Question Type
General Guidelines
For all reference interactions, one should attempt to fill in this field in Desk Tracker, selecting only one
option from drop-down menu. Please note that these categories have to do with the nature of
interactions, rather than their subject.
For interactions which overlap multiple categories, please choose the category upon which the most
time was spent. In ambiguous circumstances, use your best judgment and don’t worry if you have to
approximate. It may be useful to ask oneself, “Which category comes closest to capturing the essence of
this interaction?” Talking to a colleague also may help lend some perspective to a tricky question. For
bizarre or unclassifiable interactions, feel free to utilize the Other category, but try to never leave the
field entirely empty.
Database/eJournal/SFX Access Problems
Use for when a patron should be able to access a database or a service within a database, such
as a full-text pdf download, but cannot due to issues internal to either the database itself or Online
Research Resources. Almost without exception, these questions will involve reporting an access problem
to ER Tech. For our purposes, Refworks and similar services that the library subscribes to will be
considered databases. DO NOT use when a patron does not know how to find a particular database or
journal; see Finding specific library materials. DO NOT use when the access problem is due to software
or hardware issues; see Technical Issues.
Examples:
•
“The Early English Books Online link in the ORR is broken.” BUT NOT “How do I access Early English
Books Online?” (See Finding specific library materials)
•
“I am logged into the proxy server but Wiley InterScience still won’t let me access articles.” BUT NOT
“I went into Wiley InterScience through Google but it won’t let me download articles.” (See Finding
specific library materials)
Finding specific library materials
Use for questions which involve locating one or more items which the University of Illinois may
or may not have access to, including looking for Full Text of journal articles. These are generally “know
item” questions wherein you do not have to suggest a resource or material for the patron since they
know what they want but may not know A) all the details of the item, B) whether or not we have it, or C)
how to retrieve it if we do have it.
Examples:
•
‘“Do you have an 1859 edition of Charles Dickens’ Tale of Two Cities?” BUT NOT “Who is the main
character of Dickens’ Tale of Two Cities?” (See Ready Reference)
•
“I read a book about a colony of rabbits that could talk when I was a kid but now I cannot recall the
title.” BUT NOT “Do you have books on talking rabbits?” (See Research Assistance)
Library policies and services
Use for questions about the library’s policy on anything or a service offered by the library. This
category should be used both for questions about the nature of a policy and how to use it, such as
rentable technology or course reserves. These questions will typically be answerable by a library
website, the Rolodex, or a policy that has been articulated by library staff.
Examples:
•
“How do I put articles on reserve for the class I am teaching?” BUT NOT “How do I find the course
reserves for the classes I’m taking? (See Finding specific library materials)
•
“I’m an alumnus; how come I don’t have access to databases anymore?” BUT NOT “Which databases
do I have access to as an alumnus?” (See Ready Reference)
Ready Reference
Use for questions which can be answer in one or two factual sentences or which can be
answered with the use of a typical reference source, such as a dictionary, encyclopedia, or directory. DO
NOT use for an interaction which involves many one-sentence factual answers from variegated sources;
see Research Assistance.
Examples:
•
“What are the political parties of Peru?” BUT NOT “I need information on the history of Peru as it
relates to globalization.” (See Research Assistance)
•
“How old is Bob Barker?” BUT NOT “Does the University have books about The Price is Right?” (See
Research Assistance)
Research Assistance
Use for interactions where the patron needs assistant choosing a research strategy and/or
research resources. These will generally be very broad questions where the patron does not have a
single desired item in mind but rather a range of works. Answers which involve the use of multiple
databases or which take a long time are usually Research Assistance, even if the question is recreational
in nature and not related to a research project. Interactions related to a final research product, such as
writing style, citation format, or research proposal format, would also fall under this category.
Examples:
•
“Can you help me put my bibliography into MLA format?” BUT NOT “How do you cite newspapers in
MLA?” (See Ready Reference)
•
“I need information on socialism in early 20th century Scandinavia.” BUT NOT “My professor
recommended this specific book on early 20th century Scandinavia, where is it?” (See Finding
specific library materials)
Technical Issues (printers, scanners, software)
Use for instances when a piece of technology is not working as it is supposed to. Also use when
a patron is unfamiliar with a piece of technology and needs a large degree of assistance to operate it. DO
NOT use for problems internal to a website, database, or other electronic resource; see
Database/eJournal Access Problems. DO NOT use for a patron’s minor difficulties which can be
answered by showing them a single line in a manual or “how to” guide; see Ready Reference.
Examples:
•
“Can you show me how to use the Book Eye Scanner?” BUT NOT “Can I use the Book Eye Scanner?”
(See Library policies and services)
•
“The Internet Explorer on this workstation crashes every time I navigate to a certain library
website.” BUT NOT “Which web browser is best for viewing flash animation?” (See Ready Reference)
Other
Use for interactions which cannot adequately be classified as falling under any of the above
categories. This category is meant as a catchall for odd and difficult to define interactions. If an
interaction seems to fall under three or more categories, with no one category clearly dominant, use
Other. DO NOT use for odd or difficult questions which are still classifiable under another category, i.e. a
strange Ready Reference question or Research Assistance with an especially obscure topic.
Example:
•
“When was Donald Duck’s birthday? Is there a publicly-available copy of his U.S. birth certificate?”
READ Scale
Refer to the READ scale documentation for guidelines on this field. It consists of numbers from 1-6
indicating degree of difficulty and effort based on a very specific assessment tool. Any questions which
have a Question Type of “Ready Reference,” “Finding Specific Materials,” or “Research Assistance” must
be assigned a READ Scale number.
Government Information Used
This is a simple “Yes” checkbox used to help track statistics relative to our standing as a Federal
Depository. Click Yes if in the course of answering a question you utilized information from a
government publication – including print and online resources, statistics, congressional documents, etc.
This field may be checked for questions which have nothing to do with research ABOUT the government.
Examples:
•
“I need help finding statistics on cancer recovery rates in the U.S.”
Subject (Main Heading)
Use this field for questions which have the Question Type of “Ready Reference” or “Research
Assistance.” Choose the subject that best fits the question. For more complicated or interdisciplinary
questions, use the Description field to provide more details and additional subjects.
World Region
Use this field for question which have a Question Type of “Ready Reference” or “Research Assistance.”
If the question indicates research about or involving a specific world region, select the World Region
that best fits the area of study.
Examples:
•
“I’m looking for information on how math is taught in Japan, and their scores on standardized tests.”
•
“I’m investigating the political situation in the Middle East and how the Arab Spring has impacted
individual countries.”
Description
General Guidelines
For all reference interactions greater than five minutes in duration, enter a brief description of one or
two sentences in the Description text box. Descriptions need not reiterate details captured elsewhere in
the Desk Tracker form, such as patron type or mode of communication, but can give the interaction a bit
more color by providing details. Informative aspects which might be included could be what library
resources were involved, what library policies were mentioned, how the patron responded to
assistance, and a general assessment of the successfulness of the reference service. One should not be
ashamed to admit that a question goes unanswered, as in fact that information could prove very useful
to assessment practices.
As a precaution, identifying information should never be entered in the Description field. This applies
both to the person providing reference service as well as the patron receiving assistance. Identifying
information includes names as well as the specific features of someone's appearance.
Referred To Specialist
General Guidelines
A referral occurs when the person delivering reference services decides to direct the patron elsewhere
for help which is either more in-depth or subject-specific. Follow the library guidelines on how to make
referrals located at:
http://www.library.illinois.edu/committee/ReferenceServices/policies/referral_policy.html
There are many easy tip-offs which can tell you if an interaction involves a referral or not. Did you
forward a non-trivial email inquiry to another librarian? Did you forward a phone call involving a
complex or subject-specific question to another librarian? Did you direct the patron to another
librarian's office or call a librarian so that they could come guide the patron? Did you forward a chat in
IM Collaborator to someone else with subject knowledge? If the answer to any of these questions is
"Yes", then chances are you just made a referral.
Examples:
•
A Music History PhD student looking for primary sources for a dissertation calls and you end up
transferring the call to the Music & Performing Arts Library. You would enter "Phone
Information/Directional" from the drop-down menu, but fill "MUX" (see below for more on
abbreviations) in the Referred to Specialist: field.
Department Abbreviations
In the Referred to Specialist: text box, put the three-letter abbreviation which represents the library
receiving the referral in all caps text. You can find these abbreviations by navigating to the library's
website and looking at the last directory enclosed in forward slashes. For instance, if you receive an
email about the philosophy behind the Dewey Decimal System, rather than putting the name of the
individual Library & Information Science librarian to whom you forwarded the email, put "LSX" because
the URL for the Virtual Library & Information Science Library is http://www.library.illinois.edu/lsx/ (note
the last three letters of the internet address).
If you make a referral which goes to a specific party but nonetheless not to a specific library, then enter
the full name (first name then last name) of the individual to whom you referred the inquiry.
Illinois Specific Information
This field is used to track questions which are specifically about some aspect of the state of Illinois,
including history, statistics, maps, etc. Data from this field is important to our mission as a land grant
institution. Use this field for questions with a Question Type of “Ready Reference” or “Research
Assistance.”
Examples:
•
“I need to find plat maps of Kankakee from the early 1900s.”
•
I’m looking for statistics on water use in Champaign County.”
VII Reports
1. Canned Reports (for desk stats)
a. Click the Reports Tab
b. Next to Activity, choose Bar, Line, Crosstab, or Text
i. Bar – generates a bar graph of statistics
ii. Line – generates a line graph of statistics
iii. Crosstab – compares 2 statistics in tandem (e.g. In Person questions and
Subject)
iv. Text – Retrieves each question individually rather than presenting a summary
c. Chose which options/fields you want in your report, e.g.:
d. For individual unit reports, be sure to Filter by Branch and choose your unit
e. Click the Build Report button to generate the stats.
2. Exporting Results (more advanced stats)
a. Choose the Reports tab
b. Under Download, choose Data File Generator
c. Click Show Options
d. Select options as you would for a regular Report
e. Click the Build Report button
f.
This produces a .csv file that will open in Microsoft Excel for manipulation. It can also be
imported into Access.